Plans reveal vision of Southwold and Reydon Healthy Living Centre

THESE are the first images of the multi-million-pound medical centre which has been designed to revolutionise health care for people in Southwold and Reydon.

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Reydon Healthy Living Centre

The Healthy Living Centre (HLC) is being planned as a “one-stop shop” comprising a GP’s surgery, a dentist’s, a pharmacy, and psychiatry and adult social care services.

If it wins approval from Waveney council planners, the state-of-the-art building will be constructed on a site off the newly-created Shearwater Way, Reydon, to replace the existing Southwold Surgery.

It is hoped that the centre, which would be connected to Nightingale Avenue, could be completed in 2013/14 and form a new training base for doctors and medical staff.

But a spokesman for NHS Norfolk and Waveney said the plans would not lead to the closure of Southwold Hospital, which would still provide separate in-patient services.

Reydon Healthy Living Centre

Rebecca Driver, director of engagement for HealthEast Clinical Commissioning Group, said: “Our plans are to bring clinicians together in an exciting new facility which would directly improve care for our patients in the Southwold and Reydon area.

“Patients would see a variety of services all conveniently situated in one place.

“In addition, the shared space means health care professionals would be able to work together and ensure services are joined up.

“Many of the rooms could be used by different types of health care specialists for all types of appointments, meaning this is good value for money for the taxpayer.”

Along with its on-site services, the HLC is being designed to support patients in their own homes, provide better parking facilities and outpatient clinics, and offer improved services for children and elderly patients.

It would also take on some services from Southwold Hospital and out-reach services from the James Paget University Hospital. These would include: community nursing, health care visiting, ophthalmology, general surgery, orthopaedics, urology, podiatry, physiotherapy, and occupational therapy.